Clary and Jace: Song of the Heart
by ClaceAngels
Summary: Clary Fray needs the money to help her mom and herself; Jace Herondale needs the money to pay for little brother's health. When their lives collide together, both Clary and Jace will find out that their voices can not only win them happiness, but love as well. When a competition in which two singers must perform a duet, Clary and Jace together try to win a better future, and love.


Clary quickly rushed to front door, ignoring the shouts coming from the kitchen. Her mom, Jocelyn, and Mark were arguing again, and Clary sighed in relief when she closed the apartment door; muting the yells coming from the other side. She closed her, and tried to picture a life where her mother didn't have to live with that jerk. Mark was a manager of a local car dealership, and since he was the boss, he got paid the most. Unluckily for Clary's mom, she was a painter, and in this economy no one seemed interested in buying her work. So, unwillingly, Clary's mom had married Mark to support herself and Clary, even though the guy was always upset, and seemed to just hate the world.

Clary opened her, and reached into her jacket pocket for the familiar shape of her iPod touch. She quickly scrolled through her music to find her favorite song, "Keep on Walking",and plugged in her white ear buds, and pressed play. The up-beat of the song made Clary smile for the first time that morning and she immediately turned the song up full blast, ignoring the vibration the headphones caused against her ears.

_Something's happening you can't see_

_(On your way, go one your way)_

_We are rolling on stormy seas_

_(On your way, go on your way)_

Clary hurried down the apartment stairs, humming softly to the lyrics of the song that Clary could've sang in her sleep.

_You don't like when I disagree_

_(On your way, go one your way)_

_The lies you're spinning; you're changing me_

_(On your way, go on your way)_

Clary gripped her shoulder bag tighter as she dug into her pocket for her cell phone, which showed the time was 7:16 am. She had to hurry. Her mom had yelled at her for being late to school the one time she was late to her first period class, and now with winter break over, Clary didn't want her second quarter of school to begin with her mom being mad at her.

Clary quickly texted her best friend, Simon.

**When I step outside, you better b there! (Don't wanna to be late again)**

Clary waited a few seconds before Simon texted back,

**Sure thing, Fray. Watching ur front porch as we speak (Kind of).**

Clary smiled before pushing the front door open which brought a big gust of cold winter air against her face. Clary pulled out her red scarf from her shoulder bag, and quickly wrapped it poorly around her neck; covering her chin and lower lip as well as her throat. Stepping outside, Clary saw that it had snowed the night before, again. Clary walked across the yard and saw the familiar shape of Simon's van parked just across the street. Another gust of wind caused her to shiver, as she walked through the snow. Wetness soaked through her shoes, and she sighed in exasperation at the realization that she should've chosen better shoes than converse.

_Mental note,_ Clary thought. _Next time, where thicker shoes!_

Quickly crossing the street with shaking shoulders, Clary saw through the van's window Simon smiling the same boyish grin that he always gave when he saw her. His hair was shaggy, almost reaching the bottom of his ears, and clearly needed to be brushed. Clary grinned into her scarf, and ran over to the passenger side of the car, and sighed in relief as the cold wind vanished after closing the van's door. Clary pulled out her headphones, and checked the time again on her phone; 7:18 am. The scent of laundry and drive-through food lingered in the air of the van, causing Clary to smile and look over at Simon, whose glasses had fogged up slightly from the exposure to the cold wind. Clary laughed.

"Your glasses are frostbite." Clary muffled into her scarf. Simon's eyebrows arched up in surprise and embarrassment, only causing Clary to giggle loudly.

"Oh, that's why you seemed kind of cloudy," Simon toke off his glasses and rubbed them against the front of his green sweater that read, "Not made by grandma." Classic Simon. Clary put her hands in front of the air conditioner and let the heat from the air warm her slender fingers.

"See you're boring Eric's van, again," Clary teased.

"Hey, my mom just toke the car to get washed! Plus, she got over when I broke her vase with my First edition wizard wand! " Simon stated matter-of-factly. Clary rolled her eyes and smiled mischievously. Simon loved all the wizard, werewolf, or any supernatural games or movies.

"Well, Harry Potter, we better get going if we want to make it to school on time. I don't want to get in trouble by Mrs. Bellew again." Simon nodded in agreement and pulled out of the parking gear, and began to drive down the street towards their high school.

Clary watched out the window as the white city passed by her. Living in Manhattan was always different every day, like the city was bi-polar or something. One day, the streets could be packed with people with cars all over the streets, and the next, peaceful empty sidewalks with the soft sound of passing cars in the distance. Today, the sidewalks had some people walking into stores and shops, but in the cold weather, Clary doubted that they would be walking outside all day. Clary had tried that one day; she was practicing her sketching skills, and decided to sketch at the central park, but soon realized half-way through sketching the frozen lake, that her fingers were frozen. She went home with a cold that day, and had to stay home for two days before being allowed to go back to school.

Clary watched as the bricked high school became clear, and Clary heard Simon make an exaggerated disgusted sound in the back of his throat. "Welcome back to Azkaban," Simon muttered. "Surrounded by Dementors and evil creatures of the night,"

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I see you've been catching up on your Harry Potter stuff." Clary remarked. Simon smiled, and they both got out of the van, and skipped towards the front of the high school, where a bunch of students had already started to head; glad the first bell hadn't ringed already. Clary was overcome by relief, and was about to tell Simon about the argument with her mom and Mark before suddenly, the bell rang. Clary hugged Simon, who made a sly remark about the teachers sucking Clary's soul, before they parted for their first period classes. Clary had always loved first period, for it was her favorite of the whole day; elections. She had chosen an art class for her first election and glee for her second. Clary's mother had been shocked when she chose glee class, since Clary rarely sang in public, but Clary told her mother that she wanted to give it a try, since she found singing very relaxing in her troubled home life.

Clary skipped to the glee room, nervous because this was the first time she was entering the classroom since before winter break, but excited at the familiarity of the small room. Clary gave a small wave to a group of her fellow classmates standing near the hallway lockers before steeping into the room, immediately remembering the small details of the classroom. Posters with encouraging messages were stapled along the walls, and the chairs had no desk attached and they were lined up in a horizontal row all curved towards the front of the room. A huge whiteboard covered the front wall, and the same quote was plastered on the left corner of it. "Singing isn't about the effort put, but the emotion felt." There was a keyboard against the side wall for the students to play, and other instruments in a closet near the office where Mrs. Bellew sat. A microphone was always centered right in the middle of the room on a stand; urging, and almost daring anyone to start to sing into it. Clary wasn't the one to show off, so she normally only sang in groups, never had she sang alone, except in the shower at home.

Students filled the room and toke there original seats from last quarter; the show offs in the middle, wannabes to the left, and then the actually normal ones to the right. Clary felt she always had her on category, maybe, "Girl that doesn't want to talk to anyone," or, "Girl that is abused at home," but none of them seemed fitting to her mind, so, Clary just sat at the very end of the right sided chairs; keeping to herself and only talking when group projects occurred. The beginning class bell rang, and all the students situated themselves into their seats, while Clary pushed her hands into her jacket pocket, and attempted to hide herself in her scarf, which sadly only covered her mouth and tip of her nose; Clary was ready for Mrs. Bellew to walkout of her office and tell the class the same quote about singing and emotion until the classroom door bolted open.

A guy with blond, almost golden, hair stepped into the classroom, with amber eyes that seemed to glow in the bright lighting of the room. He was wearing a denim jacket with a gray hoody under it and dark jeans. His sharp cheekbones looked like they could cut glass, and his slightly tanned complexion only made his eyes seem brighter. Clary fought the urge to grab her sketch pad that she always kept in her bag and draw his beautiful features. He was very handsome, and he grinned when he heard the girls sitting away from Clary begin to whisper excitedly. Clary realized with a jolt then that there were no empty chairs for this new boy, nowhere except right beside Clary. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to move her seat; trade it with some other student, but before she could move, Mrs. Bellew clapped her hands, and grabbed the attention of the class. Mrs. Bellew was in her forties, maybe fifties, and had dark brown hair, always tied into a bun, and dark eyes. She was always dressed professionally, like she was about to step onto a stage and conduct a choir.

"Morning, class, and welcome back," The class groaned. "Now, as you can see, we have new student attending this class," As if on cue, the new boy walked almost lazily towards Mrs. Bellew, letting her put a hand on his arm. The boy then looked over the students with proud eyes, and then rested his gaze on Clary. Clary quickly looked away; feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable by the boy catching her staring at him. She began to fidget nervously with her scarf end, and refused to look back up at the boy that, out of the corner of her eye, could see staring at her.

_Why is he looking at me?_ Clary thought. _There are many other girls that are _way_ more attractive than me in this classroom, so why is he staring at_ me?

"Everyone, this is-"

"Jace." The new guy said. "Jace Herondale."

Jace's voice sent shivers down Clary's spine, and a new feeling in her gut. Admiration? Attraction? No, Clary pushed the feeling away. His voice was like silk, no, not all silk, but like a honey on a smooth surface, or the sound of waves; strong and beautiful, crashing into the shore. His voice could've been sing-song, but he was only speaking. Clary wondered what his voice sounded like when he sang.

"Well, Jace, you can take a seat next to Clary." Mrs. Bellew motioned her Jace to sit down. Clary didn't look up even when Jace toke his seat next to her; his arm and thigh touched hers slightly, causing Clary to tense. _This is crazy,_ Clary thought. _I don't even know him. Plus, he probably has a girlfriend already._ Clary relaxed slightly, and aloud her eyes to move to her side to see Jace's golden eyes staring into hers. Clary quickly moved her eyes to Mrs. Bellew; pretending to be focused on what she was saying when in reality, she already heard her talk about the procedures and rules of the class already, but she guessed Mrs. Bellew was speaking more to Jace than the class. When one of the students, Helen, got up to sing a song for the class after Mrs. Bellew told the class that the students could sing, Clary, out of the corner of her eye, saw Jace still staring at her, and she suddenly felt naked, even with her thick sweater and jacket covering her, and her scarf covering the lower half of her face. After Helen was halfway through her song called, "Winter Song," which was pretty cliché, Clary saw Jace's mouth curl into a grin. Clary was glad the scarf covered her mouth, because she couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought of Jace smiling at the sight of her.

When Helen's song came to an end, and her voice ended, the class clapped, and Clary along with them. Yet, Jace leaned over to her ear and whispered, "I like your scarf,"

Clary grew tense, once again, and she feared that her cheeks were blushing before she realized that the scarf covered some of her cheeks. Clary turned toward Jace now, seeing the beautiful features of his golden face. His hair waved into golden locks, and his hair grew right below his ears, making his face seem to be surrounded in a heavenly light. He looked like an angel; something to handsome and magnificent to truly be all human, but the thought was absurd, and Clary shook the thought away.

"The color brings out your pretty hair." Jace then lightly traced a strand of Clary's hair downward, and pulled it away from her face. Clary was in shock, she couldn't believe Jace just touched her hair, let alone call it pretty. Clary had gotten her physical looks all from her mother, from her slender form, to her red hair and green eyes, and everyone called Clary a keychain version of her, which made Clary angry. But looking at Jace, she felt like a one of a kind, for once, and she know felt her cheeks nearly glow blushing.

Clary looked down at her hands resting in her lap, and muttered, "Thanks." Clary's voice was slightly muffled by the fabric of the scarf, and Jace huskily laughed; a deep sound in the back of his throat. It was nice.

For the first time, Clary felt butterflies in the pit of her stomach, and she knew she was falling for Jace's charm, _hard_, and even though she was extremely nervous being right next to him, Clary also felt a feeling of comfort in being near him. It felt like he was something that was always cloudy in her mind, and now he had surfaced into her reality.

After five more students got up and sang cliché winter songs, including "Jingle Bell Rock," the bell rang for second period, and Clary hurriedly grabbed her bag, and began to walk towards the door, before Jace stepped in front of her. He had a good foot on her, and she felt like a small child being stopped by a giant. She looked up at the same heavenly face that had complemented earlier, and felt the flutter of butterflies grow larger and stronger in her stomach. Jace was grinning down at her, and a glowing smile was plastered on his face. Clary then realized that her scarf had loosened around her face, and had revealed her cheeks and lips. Jace was staring at her mouth with,

Clary stared at the look in his eyes. Wanting, Longing, Admiration?

_God, this boy is going to make me faint,_ Clary thought. "Hey, Clary," Jace held the 'r' syllable slightly longer , as if testing the name on his lips. She was about to ask him how he knew her name, before remembering that Mrs. Bellew had told Jace her name when telling him where to sit. "Hi." Clary squeaked out. She quickly tried to regain her posture by standing a little taller and clearing her voice. Jace seemed to think it was amusing, and gave her that laugh she had heard earlier: a deep sound at the back of his throat.

"Since I'm new here, I was wondering if I'd have lunch with you," It sounded more like a statement than a question of permission to Clary, but she didn't mind. He wanted to sit with her at lunch; _oh, Simon was going to absolutely love that._ Clary thought.

"Besides, I don't have any friends here, so may I have the honor of joining your company for lunch?" Jace asked, slightly accenting his voice with an old English accent. Clary giggled.

"Well, I don't know you very well; at all, actually, so why are you asking me?" Clary asked, finally becoming more comfortable talking to Jace. Jace's grin grew wider.

"Well, I'm asking you because I'd like to become friends, and you seem friendly enough," Jace explained. Clary saw hope in his eyes as she played with the zipper on her bag as she replied.

"Okay," Clary saw the hope burst into joy in her golden eyes. "I guess I'll see you at lunch." Clary said. Jace moved away from the classroom door, and aloud Clary to leave, but not before he said, "See you then, Clary," again holding out the 'r' in the way that made Clary shiver.

Clary had never felt so excited for lunch in her entire life.

**So, what do you guys (and girls) think? Love it so far? I'll continue it if you shadowhunters want! Please review what you guys think about this story!**


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